ACCORDO UniRoma "LA SAPIENZA" - SPIN per Progetto ERC-H2020 MOMENTUM AND POSITION RESOLVED MAPPING TRANSMISSION ELECTRON ENERGY LOSS MICROSCOPE -- MORE-TEM (DFM.AD003.421)

Thematic area

Physical sciences and technologies of matter

Project area

Structure responsible for the research project

Institute for superconductors, oxides and other innovative materials and devices (SPIN)

Project manager

PAOLO BARONE
Phone number: 064993
Email: paolo.barone@spin.cnr.it

Abstract

A major mission of condensed-matter physics is to understand material properties via the knowledge of the energy vs. momentum dispersion and lifetime of fundamental excitations. Available techniques with high energy/momentum resolution, like inelastic X-ray scattering or reflection electron energy-loss spectroscopy, lack the space resolution required by emerging nanostructured materials. This project aims at developing a MOmentum-Resolved Excitation Transmission-Electron-Microscope (MORE-TEM) able to measure momentum-dependent excitations with the unprecedented 1 meV energy resolution combined with 10 nm spatial resolution on thin samples down to the atomic monolayer and with a temperature control down to liquid He. This breakthrough requires bringing together complementary skills ranging from TEM and electron optics to experimental/theoretical spectroscopy. MORE-TEM opens the so-far unexplored possibility to investigate dispersion and lifetime of phonons, plasmons and excitons in hierarchical quantum matter including bio- and organic molecules, 1D nanotubes, 2D materials and van der Waals heterostructures, nanocrystals in minerals and soft matter.

Goals

The main objective of the project is to develop a trasmission-electron microscope optimized for spectroscopic studies of nanoscale objects, combining high resolution in energy, space and momentum within a single table-top instrument. On the experimental and technological side, the complementary skills in momentum-resolved EELS, optical spectroscopy, atomic-resolution microscopy as well in electron optics development will be put together to realize a high-momentum-resolution TEM spectrometer. On the theory side, new tools will be developed for providing a full ab initio description of electron energy loss that covers elementary excitations in a broad energy window, at the same time able to disentangle surface, edge, defect and bulk spectral sginatures, thus providing the theoretical framework required for the interpretation and planning of experiments.

Start date of activity

01/05/2021

Keywords

Accordo, Sapienza-SPIN, MoreTem

Last update: 24/04/2024